Wnited States Senate WASHINGTON, DC 20510 June 28, 2016 President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C., 20500 President Obama: As elected officials, we are proud to serve a nation that has earned the reputation as the leader of the free world. Following the devastation of many of our allies during the Second World War and the looming threat of Soviet expansion, the United States took on the burden of European defense. That commitment multiplied our security and economic advantages in the second half of the 20" Century, culminating with the collapse of the Soviet Union, We believe that the funetion of this alliance is still of strategic importance; however, there have been great geo- political changes since the 1940s, and we believe that the viability of the alliance in the coming decades is contingent upon economically prosperous allies in Europe taking on more responsibility for their own defenses, You stated in your speech to the people of Europe in Hannover, Germany, on April 25, “That's why every NATO member should be contributing its full share ~ 2 percent of GDP ~ towards our common security, something that doesn’t always happen. And I'll be honest, sometimes Europe has been complacent about its own defense.” We agree with you on this point, and urge you to continue actively seeking commitments and tangible results from our European allies at the upcoming NATO Warsaw Summit on July 8 and 9 According to NATO, the combined wealth of the non-US Allies, measured in gross domestic product (GDP), exceeds that of the United States. However, “[tJoday, the volume of the US defense expenditure effectively represents 73 per cent of the defense spending of the Alliance as a whole. This does not mean that the United States covers 73 per cent of the costs involved in the operational running of NATO as an organization, including its headquarters in Brussels and its subordinate military commands, but it does mean that there is an over-reliance by the Alliance as, a whole on the United States for the provision of essential capabilities, including for instance, in regard to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; air-to-air refuelling; ballistic missile defence; and airborne electronic warfare,'” Further concerns arise when the U.S. authorizes billions of dollars in additional funding to “reassure” our allies in Europe through various forms of defense aid as part of the European Reassurance Initiative (ERD). " Source: NATO website pw nto epsennatoey/opics_ 67655 hamIn 2006, NATO member countries agreed to commit a minimum of 2 percent of their GDP to spending on their individual defense budgets. Ten years later, that commitment has yet to be met by more than half of the NATO members. While there is a worthwhile debate about what specific defense investments our European allies need to make, the failure to meet even this basic threshold commitment is unacceptable. ‘We believe it is time for our actions to match our rhetoric. The commitments we brought back from the Wales Summit in 2014 with regard to national defense spending on major equipment have a ten-year time horizon for action. In lieu of giving our highly capable European allies a crutch of defense aid for years to come, we must begin making this aid contingent upon real investment from their governments starting with adjustments to their national budgets now. A criticism leveled by American defense and diplomatic leaders is that our well-intentioned defense commitments actually incentivize European nations to prioritize high-priced non-defense programs over security spending in their budgets. It is simply inconceivable to most Americans that their hard-earned tax dollars are used to reassure financially capable allies who have failed to meet decade-old commitments. These are no longer the economically fraught post-WWII days of Europe. ‘Twenty-First Century European nations must face — and are capable of deterring = an economically and politically vulnerable Russia while addressing an immigration problem largely of their own making, Ata press conference intended to lay the groundwork for the upcoming summit, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reiterated that “[a]llies must spend more on defense to sustain this shift in NATO's defense posture. {...] Following a long decline in defense spending, 2015 was the first year after many when the Alliance registered a small increase in defense spending. ‘So this is real progress. Afier many years of going in the wrong direction, we are starting to go into the right direction." Mr. President, we must continue to push this same agenda that Secretary General Stoltenberg has laid out and that you and our diplomatic and defense leaders have supported. But such rhetoric must be followed by action. Recent events across the European continent should serve as wake-up calls to leaders of these European nations. We believe that the best way to keep the alliance strong in the 21% Century is a more equitable distribution of the collective defense burden, and we respectfully request that you make this a priority in Warsaw next month, Respectiully, Me Ey fonin Mike Lee Welt Sé3Si6n8 United States Senate united States Senate